Seven elementary, junior high, and high schools participate in the Memphis City Deregulation Program (MCDP), a school-based decision making program in which the principle of shared leadership is a key concept. Shared leadership requires a shift from traditional roles, responsibilities, and power relationships. This study focuses on 49 teachers in this program who assumed new roles as educational leaders, serving as department and grade-level chairs. Through semi-structured interviews, data were collected from these teachers and their principals (N=6) on their perceptions of the skills and training needed for teachers effectively to fill leadership positions in a school-based decision making program. Content analysis procedures were used to identify the perceptions of the principals and teachers about various aspects of school-based decision making. Specific topics examined included: skills, abilities, and attitudes teacher leaders brought to the job; skills, abilities, and attitudes that teachers involved in site-based decision making had to learn while on the job; areas in which these teachers needed to improve; extent to which teachers had been prepared to assume leadership roles in a site-based decision making structure; and how training for leadership and site-based decision making could be improved. (40 references) (IAH)